my engagement in conversation with issues and concerns related to my vocation as a seminary lecturer. Opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my personal views and do not represent the official position of the seminary

Monday, 21 September 2009

Still Recovering from Preaching.....

To some, this might be rather strange. But to me, I always have this additional pressure whenever I preach in my home church. Yesterday, I preached on The (In)famous Amos: Why Didn't You Negotiate with God (Amos 7:1-9). It was so tiring after the church service that I slept for 3 hours after lunch yesterday. I feel like I barely recovered today, and had another 2 hours of sleep earlier on. I don't normally feel this way whenever I preach elsewhere. Strangely as well, the preparetion for my sermons in my home church is always a great struggle with many sleepless and restless nights.

I guess the more the congregation knows you, the greater is the pressure to preach? Or could it be that the expectation is higher in your home church? Just wondering.

16 comments:

Hi Alex,Thanks for your comment. But I guess I don't really place high expectation on myself in my church. In fact, I rarely preach in my church on sunday - yesterday was in fact my first sunday service preaching for me for 2009!

Maybe folks in PJEFC can be rather critical - as in the past, I had received all sorts of feedback. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I would rather not preach. I know preaching is not my strong area.

I always think it is both harder and easier to preach regularly to the same congregation. Harder because you need to be fresh (as they know you better). Easier because you have more opportunities to cover things you want to preach as you do not have to try and squeeze everything into one sermon or spend too much time qualifying yourself. Harder because they know you ... but also easier because they know you (i.e. your life)

Hi Paul,Yeah - it's a paradox, isn't it. Well, for PJEFC, I am not a regular preacher - just once or twice a year, or the most, 3 times a year. For some churches, I preach more frequently than that in a year!

Hi Sceptics,Well, I am one of those who happen not to believe in long sermon. I don't think it is an issue with charismatic or non-charismatic audience/preacher. BTW, I am a charismatic through and through too!

In my church, the typical length of a sermon is 45-60min. But for me, it tends to be shorter.

Hi Sceptics,I find your comments quite interesting. For me, I don't think it is a pentecostal/charismatic issue, perhaps that has to do with personal preference? In my church, which has gone through charismatic renewal, we do find 2 camps too - one would prefer 30min sermons, and one would prefer longer sermons.

About Me

I am a Christ-follower by calling, a Lecturer in New Testament Studies and Assistant Director of Postgraduate Studies at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia by vocation, and a lover of the New Testament by passion. I am also an ordained minister of the Evangelical Free Church of Malaysia.